Chapter 4

Chapter 04

It was Monday the following week.

Chris had spent the entire weekend apologising for how the night at the bar turned out. I wasn't even mad at him but he really felt bad for how I left that night. He solemnly swore not to try to play Cupid and set me up with anyone ever again. I wasn't looking for a boyfriend and even if I was, I wouldn't need his help finding one.

The three day conference I was invited to by the Ronald brothers started today and just as I had promised, I brought Chris along with me as my plus one.

The building in which it was being held was as large as it was beautiful. The lighting was phenomenal and it was adorned with a lot of breathtaking artworks. The ceilings were high up above our heads and the marble tiled floors were almost spotless.

And that was just the waiting hall, where everyone who had been invited stayed socialising and pacing around. The conference was yet to start and people were still filing in.

A lot of successful people were present at this actually and I just felt proud of myself that I was invited to be in their midst. I had seen some pretty famous people, who were doing good in their own particular niche.

After Chris and I had gotten our name tags from the lady behind the desk, who was in charge of checking people's name off the invitee list, we hung them around our necks and turned our backs to her, taking in the magnitude of all this.

Everyone was dressed formally, and so was Chris and I.

Chris was dressed in a black and blue striped button up dress shirt on black trousers. He also had a blue tie to match. The black dress shoes he had on were well polished and lustrous.

I, on the other hand, was dressed in a navy blue trouser suit and I had on a black camisole of lacy material beneath the suit jacket . The heels I had on were red and so was my purse. My hair was held up in a neat ponytail, a slight path leaving loose hair in front to fall to the side of my face.

"Hey, there's Dean." Chris said, sounding surprised.

I followed Chris' line of vision and my eyes landed on Dean, who was amidst four, maybe five people who looked like they were engaging in a conversation. He was dressed in a navy blue dress suit and his hair was styled neatly on his head.

His girlfriend, Amber, was also hooked to his left arm.

My face held no expression as I looked away from him, "Oh, yeah."

"Wait, why don't you seem shocked to see him here?" Chris asked. "Did you know that he was invited?"

"Nope." I answered his question. "But since I saw him at the Sasha Chorus show on Friday, I'm really not just surprised to see that he's here."

Chris nodded.

"Plus, it only makes sense that he'd be invited." I added. "He did recently become the CEO of his family's billion dollar empire and people literally can not shut up about him.”

"Of course, that makes sense." He nodded again and then his legs started to move. "Come on, let's go say hi to him."

I held him back as soon as he finished his sentence, my brows furrowed, "What in the world for?"

"Just to be polite." He shrugged. "We're literally all here in the same place, so why not?"

"Look, that's his girlfriend." I informed Chris and he looked in Dean's direction again. "She's already made it clear she doesn't like me, I don't want her to think I'm trying to overstep or whatever so just chill. There's really no need to walk over there right now."

"I don't know, I still feel it's-"

"Come on, Chris, it'll only be unnecessarily awkward." I pressed on. "Apart from the brief conversation we shared on Friday, Dean and I haven't spoken in two and a half years and it's not like you guys are really even friends anymore."

Chris' face fell momentarily.

I immediately regretted blurting out what I said.

Dean's friendship was really important to Chris but after I broke up with Dean and with how I left things, it was hard for their friendship to stay as tight as it was. Chris felt really bad for not being a good friend to him and giving him a heads up or at least tried to talk me out of leaving him in such a way.

Dean also held anger in his heart over everything for a long time. It just kind of took a toll on their friendship and it was hard to rebuild it after all that; even after the guilt and anger had subsided.

"Look, I'm sorry Chris." I placed a hand on his arm. "You can go say hi to him if you really want to but it'll honestly be too awkward for me so I'm just going to pretend I'm having an important conversation with someone here, okay?"

"Sure." He gave my hand which was on his arm a gentle pat before he started heading in the direction where Dean stood.

Dean must've felt my eyes on him because his eyes met mine while I was unconsciously staring at him. I wasted no time in averting my gaze to something else and starting a conversation with the first person I could find.

* * * *

The conference was held in a dimly lit theatre hall.

The Ronald brothers were amazing hosts as they stood on stage speaking on a lot of interesting and dire topics; mostly about business. They also had a good sense of humour and would make everyone laugh every once in a while.

It felt good to be seated amongst the audience. I felt just as accomplished as I did inspired.

The conference didn't take too long. Between the guest speakers and the input of a few people present, everything was wrapped up in two hours roughly.

The lights came on in the entire hall immediately the conference was over, just like they do in cinemas. Most people stood to their feet, some stayed in their seats, but everyone was having one conversation or another with someone.

Chris, who was seated beside me the entire conference, spotted one of his idols, Freddy Boland, who according to him was 'Beyoncé in photography world' and stood from his seat, hoping to approach him and start a conversation.

I stayed in my seat, silently watching as Chris walked up to Freddy Boland and began to speak. My eyes began to wander around the place and they landed on Dean, who appeared to have already been staring at me.

I sucked in a breath as I forced myself to look away from him.

But from the corner of my eye, I could observe him making a quick gesture to the group of men whom he had been conversing with and making his way over to where I sat.

For a moment, he stood silently over the vacant seat which Chris had previously occupied. I looked at him to see his eyes give a questioning look, like they were asking if he could sit or not.

I gave a brief nod.

"Fancy seeing you here." Dean said immediately he was seated.

I looked at him, "Likewise."

I hated how nervous I felt at his gaze.

It was entirely different from how calm and safe they used to feel.

His eyes locked with mine, "Do you know the Ronald brothers well?"

"Not personally, no." I answered him. "But I guess they're fans of my work cause they reached out with an invite about a month ago."

"Oh." There was a light crease between his brows. "I, uh, I didn't know you've been back in LA for such a long time."

"Oh no, I flew back to LA last week Thursday." I informed him. "Emails are a thing, Dean."

"Right." He let out an mortified chuckle. "Of course."

"Feels good to be back here though." I admitted.

"A-Are you staying or..?"

"No." I answered his question. "I'm flying back to England in less than two weeks."

"Oh." He nodded. "Okay, that's great."

"Yeah, I just felt it'll be nice to come home for spring break this year." I told him. "Also, it's my dad's anniversary month."

Realisation flooded his features and he wore a somewhat sad look, "Yeah, that's true."

"Yup." I nodded, trying not to be awkward.

He quickly wiped the sad look off his face and asked, "Are you guys doing anything special for it?"

"Probably." I said, heaving a sigh. "Not sure exactly what though but we will."

He nodded again, staring at me attentively.

I honestly didn't know what my mother had planned for the third anniversary of my father's passing but I know she had something prepared for the day. I didn't particularly know how I felt about being home for his remembrance month for the very first time. Deep down, I was scared that being around where he was buried would cause an emotional breakdown I truthfully wasn't prepared for.

Trying to heal from the loss of my father was a process I was still getting through and frankly, I think it always will be. I don't think there'll be a time where I can say I have fully healed from it because it was a loss that completely demolished me.

"Hey," Dean said softly, placing a hand on my arm, "you okay?"

I inhaled a deep breath and quickly shook my head, "Yeah, I'm okay."

I had completely zoned out.

I gave his hand which was still on my arm a look and he swiftly pulled it away.

"Where's, uh," I cleared my throat, "where's Amber? I thought I saw her with you earlier."

"Yeah, she had to step out shortly before the conference was over." He told me.

I nodded, "Okay."

"Yeah."

"Well, you look like you're really happy with her." I told him honestly, giving a small smile. "And she seems nice."

"Yeah." He smiled as well. "She is."

"She doesn't seem to like me though." I said bluntly and then we both shared a look and laughed.

God, it felt so good to hear him laugh.

Dean tried to control his, "Well, you can't blame her. You are 'the' ex."

"'The' ex, huh?" I continued laughing. "Has a nice ring to it."

His laughter levelled down to a smile, "Well, you seem to be doing really well too. Congratulations on your second book."

"Thank you." I said appreciatively. "Means a lot coming from the big shot CEO of The Ryan Empire."

"Hehe." He chuckled lightly. "Stop, I'm shy."

"I'm proud of you." I gave his shoulder a gentle nudge.

He smile was soft and appreciative, "I'm proud of you too."

Dean looked like he was about to say something before Chris walked up to where we sat and said, "Aww, look at you two having a conversation."

"Shut up, Chris, don't make it weird." I chuckled.

"Anyways!" Chris began to squeal. "Freddy Boland is awesome. He gave me his card saying I should email him some of my photos, that he'd like to see more of my work."

"Chris, that's amazing." I smiled, sharing his excitement.

"That's awesome, Chris." Dean said excitedly as well.

"Thank you guys." He wiped a fake tear off his eyes. "Well, today has been nice. How 'bout we go out just to hang out and catch up like old times?"

I gave Chris a look.

"Um," Dean started, "I'd love to but I've already made plans with Amber. Rain check though."

I bit down on my bottom lip.

"Oh. Yeah, sure, no problem." Chris said to Dean.

Dean took a quick look at his watch and said, "I really should start heading out. It was really great seeing you two again."

"Aww, you too Dean." Chris faked a sniffle.

Dean stood to his feet and gently brushed his palm down any creases that might've formed on his suit.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." That was the last thing he said before he turned his back to us and walked away.

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Thanks for reading!

~Chris xx.